Leadership – Page 4 – LARSEN

Tears for peers: the hidden costs of arts funding

Across Australia, hundreds of arts organisations are currently awaiting the outcome of expressions of interest for four-year funding from Australia Council for the Arts. In Warrang/Sydney meeting-rooms, teams of subcontracted industry advisors are being assembled in their respective artforms to advise Council on which applications are eligible to go through to second and final stage of their decision-making process.

We can do better than Boards

Following my collaboration on AICSA’s Rethinking Arts Governance event last year, I articulated some issues arts organisations have with arts Boards and shared examples of Boards making the best of the current situation.

In doing so, it became depressingly clear that our sector has learned how to bend without breaking when it comes to arts governance. But if the cause of most of our Arts Boards’ dysfunction is the governance model itself, perhaps a break is what we need – to throw the model out and start again.

And another thing: self care isn’t selfish

Welcome to my first ‘and another thing’ vlog for 2023.

This one builds on Employment Hero’s new Wellness at Work report and my recent Artshub article for those in need of a New Year creative reset.

And another thing: reviving Australian cultural policy

So, Australia has a brand-new National Cultural Policy. And, you know what? I think it’s pretty great.

My latest ‘and another thing’ vlog walk the line between cautious optimism and being a critical friend.

National Cultural Policy revives unfamiliar hope

Yesterday’s National Cultural Policy launch, dubbed Revive by the Federal Government, promised ‘a new era for Australia’s arts, entertainment and cultural sector’ and delivered much-needed optimism at a time when the stakes for artists, arts organisations and audiences have never been so high.

What does ‘less is necessary’ look like?

It’s been a difficult few years for everybody. With the pandemic joining floods, bushfires and nearly a decade of arts funding cuts, Australia’s arts sector has never been more vulnerable.

As a result, we now find ourselves in the midst of a new crisis: one characterised by sector-wide burnout, staff shortages, ‘post’-pandemic exhaustion, and breaking (or already broken) teams. Which puts a whole generation of artists and arts leaders at risk.

Post-COVID or post-burnout: less is necessary

As a sector, we came together in 2020 and 2021 with extraordinary responsiveness and resilience, and began this year with the hope 2022 would be better, easier, or at least somehow different. Australia had reopened, interstate and international travel was once again possible, and our organisations equipped with new skills to meet artists’ and audiences’ changing needs.

Bad news Boards

The suggestion that Australian arts organisations should reset (or even remove) their Boards has clearly struck a nerve.

Within days of my provocation at the 2021 Reset Conference, I was inundated with responses from all over the world. This included hundreds of social media posts, pages of emails and dozens of interviews that acted both as an overwhelming affirmation of the proposal and a depressing indictment of the state of the sector and the broken governance models we’re forced to work within.

Looking for allies for arts governance

From the start of 2023, I began reducing my client workload in order to write – with a focus on my debut poetry collection (Public. Open. Space, Fremantle Press), the second edition of The Relationship is the Project and my independent research into rethinking arts, cultural and for-purpose governance – which will remain my focus in 2026 as I hope to publish a book-length manuscript.

If my work or writing has been of value to you, I’d appreciate you joining me as an advocate, ally or accomplice from just $2.50/month on Patreon).

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